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Published: March 5th 2007
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Absolutely amazing
The sun set at the Carlo's sand blows beat any other seen on our trip ! breath taking We are about at the sixth month point of our trip, in that time we have seen a lifetime of beaches and it now takes a pretty special one to make us gasp. When we arrived at Rainbow Beach, fresh from dolphin feeding, we had few expectations of the place. The site we stopped at gave us our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean but it wasn't until we stepped onto it that we realised how beautiful it was. With a brilliant blue sea crashing in waves against a seemingly endless sandy beach we wasted no time in grabbing our towels and setting up at the designated swim area (on many of Australia's beaches lifeguards patrol between two points and whilst it sounds a bit wussy to head for those areas when you have seen the type of things that can lurk off shore, as well as the rips and currents moving people with ease it's a neccessity!).
After a few hours topping up the tans we headed up the beach to the rainbow coloured sands the area is named after. Not really rainbow but butterscotch, caramel, chocolate and toffee shades, the sand at the beach tapers up to towering
Rainbow beach
It takes a special beach to be called 'one of the best we have seen' it was only let down by the fact that Rod, Jane, Freddy and Bungle were nowhere to be seen sand cliffs in gorgeous shades that wouldn't be out of place on a dulux colour chart (or ice cream parlour).
That evening we headed up to Carlos Sandblow, a 120m dune over the beach. Having been advised by a one-toothed local that sunset was meant to be a pretty good time to visit we made our way there about an hour before the sun would set. We parked about 600m from the sight and made our way through what seemed like an enchanted forest with the dim light of day slowly beginning to vanish. Arriving at the Sandblow was another 'take your breath away' moment, a fantastic slant of white sand lay in front of us, the only imperfections being the ripples created by the wind and the footprints of two kite surfers making the most of the sea beeze. The sandblow could easily fool you into thinking you were in the middle of the desert, that is until a tour of 30 loud American backpackers arrived for the sunset and began taking pictures of throwing each other into the air in front of the reddening sun; though even they were unable to spoil the most amazing sunset of
"Daddy what are the Tortoises doing?!"
I think we visited Aussie zoo on 'randy animal day' as they were all at it. The noise this fella was making could be heard from the snake enclosure. the trip.
The following day we headed south about an hour and a half to Noosa but not before treating ourselves to a delicious brunch of Eggs Benedict at a trendy bistro perched on a cliff overlooking the sea.
Our arrival at Noosa was a little confusing, there are several 'settlements'; Noosa Heads, Noosa Junction, Noosaville, as well areas called Noosa National Park, Noosa River and a Noosa Drive (to name a few) as well as a few surrounding areas with non-Noosa names, After a quick stroll round the main area, Noosa Heads, which has a lovely beach and was heaving with 'Sunday Arvo' families, we plumped for Noosaville and a site on the bank of the Noosa River. It had a relaxed feel and we spent an hour or so enjoying a cold beer as huge pelicans with wing spans bigger than me milled around us hoping for a stray fish head from a couple fishing nearby.
We spent 2 nights in Noosa before heading towards Beerwah, home of the Australian Zoo. Steve Irwin's parents set the zoo up and must have fuelled Steve's passion for animals, at some point Steve and wife Terri, plus their
'The pack on my back is aching, straps seem to cut me like a knife'
Matt doing his best Stone Roses impression at the Sand Blows (video for fools gold) own two kids took over running the place. Despite his death last year Steve is still very much the face of the zoo and his picture is everywhere, we even had to drive along Steve Irwin way en route.
The zoo is pretty big and all the animals are fairly free, they are in enclosures but there are no bars in sight.We saw a few animals we have seen in the wild; a Cassowary, Kangaroos, Wallabies and loads of birds, as well as some animals we are yet to see; Koalas, Dingos and Crocodiles. The Koalas were brilliant, despite doing very little. When we first arrived we saw 3 sleeping in a Eucalyptus tree, they seemed to be so awkward with their an arm or leg stuck out rigidly in the air and their bums perched on branch ends, slowly they began to wake and stretch, yawn a little and then slump again almost exhausted from the effort.
A live crocodile show gave us the chance to see a huge one jumping in the air for meat, though the show was extremely cheesy and we had made the mistake of sitting in the shady area which meant we
Beauty and the Beast
I will let you make up your own mind on which is which folks missed all the video links as we were sat under the screen (doh!).
So after a few quick stops in Australia's Sunshine Coast it's onto Brisbane and the largest city we will have visited since getting to Australia, we can't wait!
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